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With that last question for the both of them about saying something you admire, Beto only said nice things about Ted but Ted spun it with his final words about how Beto was expanding government and giving higher taxes. What a prick.

From what I saw, it looked like an honorable man was going up against a real snake of a man. Ted Cruz was lying on that podium like a man with no shame. Which, from his past behavior, we know he has none.

They are polling neck and neck. That's bad for Cruz since most people know him but do NOT know O'Rourke. These three debates will give people a chance to be familiar with Beto and his policy ideas. This is entirely an advantage for Beto and not Cruz. No one is thinking "shit, Im not sure about Cruz, first I better hear from him then make a decision".

The Shapiros of the world are why I get up on my soapbox about this stuff. It drives me bonkers that he gets to be considered some kind of "intellectual Titan of the right" when in reality what he's figured out is that intentionally frustrating your opponent to the point where they start to lose their temper is an incredibly effective debate strategy

I'm not saying that we on the left should abandon truth, absolutely not. Truth and greater knowledge can be a very powerful tool in debate, but it's certainly not the only one or even the most effective. The ugly truth to it is that sounding correct is much more important than being correct

If it wasn't legal to have a 24/7, 365 "news" [propaganda] network pushing misleading and false narratives, we'd be much better off. Cut throat economics only works so well, for so long. Sucking the life out of the middle class and endlessly transferring wealth from the bottom up works very well for a small, well to do portion of us. So that's what we get. That's where we are.

You win debates by telling a better story that people listening can understand and connect with.

This, so much. So many people don't seem to grasp that the debates are theater, and the winner is the one that looks and sounds like they won on style, not the one that actually has the best substantial points.

If you don't think Beto understands this or is not capable of responding to it, you haven't been watching Beto. The guy is probably more charismatic than 08 Obama. He is a once in a generation candidate. The odds are still stacked against him, and we shouldn't get our hopes up too much, but I think Cruz will get crushed in a debate with Beto.

He's going to try, but you saw in the video how easily Bernie Sanders shut him down when he recognized what Cruz was trying to pull. Trying this kind of bullshit and then failing at it and getting it called out and turned around on you is a great way to lose a debate. We'll just see if Beto O'Rourke is as well prepared and poised as he ought to be to do so.

I know he was a debate champ in college, but the last few debates I've seen him in, his method relied on:

Getting asked a question and nodding to better seem human

Thanking the questioner for whatever for a good chunk of time

Tell an anecdote which at first sounds like it may seem relevant to the question, but then he goes on and on about it for so long, you're not sure what the question was in the first place

Finishes with a complete dodge of the initial question but at this point, you've either fallen asleep or forgotten the question or both, while answering a semi-relevant aspect of the question, or sometimes even an entirely different topic and painting a scene in which his opponent is worse at the new topic he invented.

I hate Cruz’s style of debate. He gives these preacher-like soliloquies, and he’s just painfully unlikeable. His policy ideas are draconian, and not well thought out. One of his ideas during the presidential debates was to “carpet bomb” ISIS. Sure he knows how to talk, but he’s the biggest goober imaginable.

I'll never understand why people keep saying he's a master debater. You're exactly right. It's just so cringe worthy when he trots out what he thinks are clever pop culture references, he's smarmy as fuck, and yeah his policies are atrocious and yet every thread it's oh no watch out for master debater Ted Cruz!

He has the reputation due to his past jobs, not his current one. Back in the day he was on a number of debate teams and did quite well. He then went on to be the solicitor general for the state of Texas arguing before the Supreme Court, so obviously the guy has skills. However, those skills don't really carry over into a political debate. Convincing voters to support you is not a skill he developed in those prior gigs.

I mean the main problem with Cruz's debate style is that half of everything he says is a blatant lie and the other half is misleading. I couldn't even finish his debate with Sanders awhile back because he was just flat out lying about economic data and neither Sanders or the moderators called him on it.

In the Trump/Clinton debates, she was far and away a better debater in terms of presenting facts and reasoned counterpoints. I think in the end many people chose Trump because they liked him more. Cruz is not charismatic, but Beto is. That will help Beto immensely.

Right now, the GOP platform is Trump. There's no smart way to defend what Trump said on Twitter today, OE any day, and Cruz trying to cut his own path will backfire with Trump supporters who want knees to bend.

Cruz has to go out and deflect and non-answer the night away. It will work for his base, but undecideds are going to not enjoy it.

See here's the thing, I keep hearing that Cruz is a great debater, but the one debate moment I remember with Cruz was in 2016 when he bashed Trump for having "New York values" or something and then Trump completely obliterated him in his response when he invoked 911.

Like, yeah, Cruz has argued before the Supreme court, but that's a completely different skill set than a "debate" like this. Debates are much more about aesthetics and personality, which Beto completely destroys Cruz in. It doesn't really matter what facts say or what reasons are brought, but that they are brought in a compelling way.

Beto has literally been doing this for months now with all of his town halls, he's basically been in debate prep his entire campaign. I think people are underestimating him and overestimating Cruz for some reason.

You forgot the tofu. He wants people to think Beto is going to take everyone’s guns and demand everyone to dress up in drag on the weekends and eat kale salads and cold tofu for lunch.

Beto needs to have a plate of BBQ, a guitar, and a beer nearby to engage in all 3. We need to stop letting the GOP paint some pretentious picture of what it means to vote against the cancer that is the GOP

You can't underestimate the power of a good live comeback... we're weeks out now, where personality matters more than policy when it comes to driving turnout and enthusiasm. Local issues are for town halls and Tuesday afternoons. If one candidate exposes weakness in the other on stage, it goes down as a win. I mean, I'll upvote the policy too, because I like policy, but in the end when the Democrat has a clear advantage in terms of personality and charisma, I'm fine with making the election about personality and charisma - at least on a Friday night when everyone is watching.

All the talk on lot of meme sites and subreddits after one of the presidential debates was Trump's line 'Because you'd be in jail". Ignoring that is a scary thing for a presidential candidate to say and completely un-presidential. And that Trump in general looked incompetent at the debate, that one line more or less won him the debate in alot of voters eyes

As a native Texan, I scoffed at “Beto-mania sweeping Texas” headline earlier his year, but as the months have gone by a have seen a TON of Beto signs as opposed to absolutely zero Cruz signs. He’s looking like he may be a shoo-in. Cruz is just relying on scare tactics at this point. All his rhetoric has been “gun grabbing, big government liberal” that I feel people see thru. I think Cruz is done for.

Among the issues that O’Rourke had with Cruz’s proposed debate schedule was every one fell on a Friday evening during high school football season. That will remain true for the Dallas debate, while the other two debates they ultimately agreed to are set for different days.

So the dude who complains that Beto is going to "ban barbecue" or whatever thinks it's cool to schedule debates on Friday nights in Texas during football season?

Beto's appeal to me as a slightly right leaning conservative is his willingness to actually listen. Add in his willingness to debate and discuss and make an intelligent argument and he will get my vote.

I'm sick and tired of people acting like there are two parties and therefore only two ways of thinking and everyone in a party thinks the same.

Stay classy, Cruz. Leave it to him to take that question about what he admired about Beto and turn it into one that's about taking shots at him instead. If anyone undecided was watching, I hope beyond everything that you saw these people's true colors.

TedCruz's opponent Bet O'O'Rourke does not even properly
appreciate the basketball men who pass the basketball ball
through the basketball ring. He cannot relate to standard
T'Exas humans the way TedCruz ForSenator does.

That shit will be viewable on YouTube, the live timeslot hasn't mattered for years. Republicans are still stuck in the past though, and don't realize their old tricks to suppress viewership no longer work.

Beto makes a reference to the clash while burning Cruz. Beto saying that Cruz is working for the clampdown. Beto already had my vote but damn that was great. It's crazy that a guy 1 year older than me who at one time was in a band with Cedric bixler is running for Texas senate.

Dear Progressives - DO NOT SPREAD THE IDEA THAT CRUZ WILL "LOSE" THIS.

Do not raise expectations of some knock out moment for O'Rourke. It. Will. Not. Happen.

Cruz did not get a slot as a Supreme Court intern with family connections. In other words, he is NOT the idiot some on the Left try to make him out to be.

The best that Beto can do is not slip up and hold his own. And that's all he needs to do. He needs to show fellow Texans that he is nothing like Cruz's attack ads and come across as a decent guy who will represent them well in Washington and on the national stage. Unlike the widely disliked Cruz.

Beto just needs to get those last undecideds and maybe a few wavering Cruz supporters to commit and the second most stunning upset of the election will be his (the first will be either in Tenn. or Miss, if they happen).

Holy FUCK! the last question, O'rourke answers it, complements the lizard, his answer was so backhanded and self fulfilling, mentioning Bernie, and how he believes in what hes fight for even tho its stupid. I hope he fucking eats a rotten toad

Beto may have his heart in the right place but against Ted Cruz who is a walking talking personification of corruption, it's not enough. Cruz has been able to pick out statements O'Rourke,makes and manipulate them to his advantage.

O'Rourke certainly can explain himself but I wonder if his message is accessible. People want very basic answers to complex problems. It's a shame that someone like Cruz can continue to stay elected and be detrimental towards his constituents.

I'm all in for O'Rourke, but he is really not doing well in this debate. He needs to attack. Talking fancy talk doesn't appeal to voters in Texas. Most voters are single issue voters. He really hasn't equated how bad things are with what Cruz has done.

Cruz is great at debating. Sorry to say it, but O'Rourke has no tactics against Cruz right now. He needs to learn how to attack.

Just my opinion, but Beto isn't trying to "win" per se. He's taking this as his biggest opportunity to get free, Texas wide exposure for himself and his platform. There are going to be thousands (tens? hundreds?) of voters watching who otherwise haven't been paying attention up until now.